Jimmy H. Beard, MSEE, PE, CFEI

Mr. Beard is an electrical engineer with over 25 years experience. After retiring from a Fortune 100 company in 2018, Mr. Beard has worked as an engineering consultant to private businesses, focusing on failure analysis (cause of loss), scope of damage, value of loss, and fire investigation. He holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, is a National Association of Fire investigators (NAFI) Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI), and is a registered Professional Engineer in nine states. Mr. Beard also serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama chapter of the International Association of Fire Investigators (IAAI).

Mr. Beard has extensive experience in the area of telecommunications, including building and testing of fiber optic and copper communications facilities, maintenance and service restoration, and estimation of repair costs. Mr. Beard has evaluated damage claims on damaged communications cables, communications towers, including radio, television, and cellular towers.

Mr. Beard has served as a consultant on damage claims related to a wide variety of electrical systems, including transformers, switchgear, busway and cable systems, diesel generators, electric and gas-fired furnaces, uninterruptible power supplies, HVAC equipment, chillers, vehicle systems, recreational vehicles, smart-home systems and many others. Mr. Beard has extensive experience evaluating lightning damage in commercial and residential settings, and is equipped to perform insulation testing when required. Mr. Beard has also been qualified as a fire origin and cause expert witness in Alabama.

Mr. Beard has consulted on a number of personal injury cases involving industrial machinery, electrical shock, garage doors, and other equipment. Mr. Beard was invited to join the Underwriters Laboratories Standards Technical Panel for garage doors (UL-325), and has served on the UL-325 committee since 2021.

In 2022, after working four years as a consulting engineer, Mr. Beard started Beard Forensic Engineering Services, LLC (BFES). BFES aims to provide excellent customer service and objective, insightful, and unbiased engineering opinions at a reasonable cost.

For more information, or to discuss your case or project, please call 205-617-0877 or email jimmy@beardforensics.com.